Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has called out Chelsea when discussing the Premier League’s 115 charges against Man City.
A hearing to examine 115 Premier League charges issued against the club began on September 16 with the Citizens’ legal team pictured arriving at the IDRC, close to St Paul’s Cathedral in central London.
The hearing is reported to have been scheduled for 10 weeks, with the independent commission’s verdict not expected until the new year.
The charges facing Man City, who won a fourth straight Premier League title in May, date back as far as the 2009-10 season.
It is thought the club, who are also accused of failing to co-operate with an investigation, could face a range of punishments including a severe points penalty or even expulsion from the Premier League if found guilty.
Man City were charged by the league in February 2023 after a long investigation into allegations published by German magazine Der Spiegel in autumn 2018.
The Premier League club deny any wrongdoing and have previously said they have a “comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence” to support their stance.
In a separate case, Man City challenged the Premier League’s associated party transaction (APT) rules on competition law grounds, via arbitration.
The arbitration panel found the rules – which are designed to ensure any deals between clubs and entities linked to their ownership are done for fair market value (FMV) – were unlawful because they excluded shareholder loans.
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Man City said that meant all the APT rules were void, and accused the Premier League of misleading the other 19 clubs in its initial interpretation of the panel judgement.
The league is since understood to have sought clarification from the panel over the implications of the judgement, but in the meantime has been canvassing clubs over changing the aspects of the rules found to be unlawful or unfair.
And Wenger believes the Financial Fair Play rules in the Premier League have to be changed with the legendary Arsenal boss calling out Chelsea for avoiding punishment earlier this century for buying whoever they wanted.
Wenger told beIN Sports on Wednesday night: “I feel the rules of Financial Fair Play today have to be changed in the Premier League. Because they now face competition from other leagues, who have changed their Financial Fair Play rules.
“The Premier League already lost a case, the first case against them. I don’t know them [City], I can’t judge them. I just think, 115 different charges against a football club today looks like we are in an international administration. Financial Fair Play rules have to be changed and made more simple.
“They [City owners] came in, and they had not faced any Financial Fair Play nor have Chelsea. Chelsea, they bought my players [from Arsenal] and Chelsea also bought what they wanted because there was no Financial Fair Play rules.”
